3 Answers

When you say you have no picture, is the screen black or is it snowy? If you have a 4 head VCR, it sounds like one or two of the video heads are damaged, but I can't confirm that until I put it on my VCR analyzer. Since you say that you have a picture when you put your VCR in Forward or Re-wind, what is happening is that the AB head switcher has switched to a different set of heads, and those are not damaged, nor blocked with dirt. It could just simply be dirty heads, and if you can purchase a VCR head cleaner, it should clear it up. But sometimes, you have to clean them by hand and you have to use a special cleaning swab specially designed for VCR heads. If that doesn't clear it up, heads are damaged, provided there are no other problems.

Sounds like you have dirty tape heads or a defective tape head.
Most modern appliances are disposable being uneconomical to repair. You can use a head cleaning tape if you can find one.
Since this is ancient technology that could be a challenge.
Even with a cleaning my guess VCR is junk.
I suggest upgrade to DVD.

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I make no claim to being any kind of an expert techie but it sounds to me like there are one or more loose or badly worn parts inside your machine. If you haven't had a look at the innards, try that. Loose things can usually be re-secured and, sometimes, worn parts can be replaced.

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I make no claim to being any kind of an expert techie but it sounds to me like there are one or more loose or badly worn parts inside your machine. If you haven't had a look at the innards, try that. Loose things can usually be re-secured and, sometimes, worn parts can be replaced.

try cleaning the cylender head of your vcr you can do that by opening the unit or buying vhs vcr casset cleaner....
ps : check if you have to switch between tv and vcr via remote , and when you insert the vhs tape you are able to rew and frw and press play normally...if these are ok usually its a little dirt onthe cylender head....hope this helps...

Though not familiar with this model, VCRs of all sorts have an idler mechanism which drives the supply and takeup spindles. Either the idler is somehow defective and slipping, and, assuming this idler is belt driven, the belt may be slipping just enough to cause a no Rew/FFW condition.
If you had access to a test tape jig (a clear dummy tape, which allows a tech to view what is happening in the area normally obscured by the loaded tape), this might give a clue as to what is happening.
On alot of machines, a problem with Rew/FFW would also mean a tape takeup problem in standard play, result in tape spilling out inside the machine. Sensors would catch this condition and go into a error mode, as yours is doing.
One other thing which might be happening here, is the pinch roller not being disengaged from the capstan in the Rew/FFW modes. I think this is where I'd look first, and you can probably see if such is happening just by pulling the cover off the VCR. The pinch roller is just to the right of the rotating video head. In the play and forward/rev search modes it will press the tape up against the capstan (a rotating shaft). When in Rew/FFW, the pinch roller should be pulled back from the capstan, maybe 1/4 inch or so.
Whatever the case, repair will likely take someone tech savvy. Costs might not be economically justified, with the low-cost, disposable rigs sold in the last 10+ years.